Older African Americans suffer from disproportionately high rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. In response to the health disparity between older African Americans and whites, national mandates have called for new research on innovative approaches to CVD prevention in this high risk population. Oxidative stress has recently been implicated in the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic CVD. Available evidence from epidemiological studies, clinical trials, and laboratory mechanistic studies indicate that antioxidant interventions may be useful in the prevention and treatment of atherosclerotic CVD in high risk older populations. Furthermore, it has been hypothesized that dietary or food sources of antioxidant nutrients may be more clinically effective than conventional nonfood-derived vitamin supplementation. Surveys indicate relatively high rates of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use, including herbal medicines, in older African Americans. Yet, with the exception of the previous clinical trials of the present Center team, there have been few controlled studies on CAM therapies in older African Americans and no previous controlled studies on efficacy and mechanisms of herbal antioxidants for the prevention of CVD in this high risk population. Preliminary studies have found that a CAM herbal preparation (MAK) derived from traditional Vedic medicine demonstrates potent antioxidant and anti-atherogenic effects in laboratory and pilot human studies. This study will evaluate the effects of this traditional CAM herbal preparation in older African Americans.